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JOHN PHILLIP (1817-1867)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 405 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:PHILLIP (1817-1867)  , Scottish painter, was See also:born at See also:Aberdeen, See also:Scotland, on the 19th of See also:April 1817 . His See also:father, an old soldier, was in humble circumstances, and the son became an errand-boy to a tinsmith, and was then apprenticed to a painter and glazier . Having received some technical instruction from a See also:local artist named See also:William See also:Mercer, he began, at the See also:age of about fifteen, to paint portraits . In 1834 he made a very brief visit to See also:London . About this See also:time he became assistant to See also:James See also:Forbes, an Aberdeen portrait-painter . He had already gained a valuable See also:patron . Having been sent to repair a window in the See also:house of See also:Major P . L . See also:Gordon, his See also:interest in the See also:works of See also:art in the house attracted the See also:attention of their owner . Gordon brought the See also:young artist under the See also:notice of See also:Lord Panmure, who in 1836 sent him to London, promising to See also:bear the cost of his art See also:education . At first See also:Phillip was placed under T . M .

Joy, but he soon entered the See also:

schools of the Royal See also:Academy . In 1839 he figured for the first time in the royal academy See also:exhibition with a portrait and a landscape, and in the following See also:year he was represented by a more ambitious figure-picture of " See also:Tasso in Disguise See also:relating his Persecutions to his See also:Sister." For the next ten years he supported himself mainly by See also:portraiture and by See also:painting subjects of See also:national incident, such as " Presbyterian Catechizing," " See also:Baptism in Scotland," and the " Spaewife." His productions at this See also:period, as well as his earlier subject-pictures, are reminiscent of the practice and methods of See also:Wilkie and'the Scottish genre-painters of his time . In 1851 his See also:health showed signs of delicacy, and he went to See also:Spain in See also:search of a warmer See also:climate . He was brought See also:face to face for the first time with the brilliant See also:sunshine and the splendid See also:colour of the See also:south, and it was in See also:coping with these that he first manifested his See also:artistic individuality and finally displayed his full See also:powers . In the " See also:Letter-writer of See also:Seville " (1854), commissioned by See also:Queen See also:Victoria at the See also:suggestion of See also:Sir See also:Edwin See also:Landseer, the artist is struggling with new difficulties in the portrayal of unwonted splendours of colour and See also:light . In 1857 Phillip was elected an See also:associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1859 a full member . In 1855 and in 186o further visits to Spain were made, and in each See also:case the painter returned with fresh materials to be embodied with increasing See also:power and subtlety in the See also:long See also:series of works which won for him the See also:title of " See also:Spanish Phillip." His highest point of See also:execution is probably reached in " La Gloria " (1864) and a smaller single-figure painting of the same period entitled " El Cigarillo." These Spanish subjects were varied in '86o by a rendering of the See also:marriage of the princess royal with the See also:crown See also:prince of See also:Prussia, executed by command of the queen, and in 1863 by a picture of the House of See also:Commons . During his last visit to Spain Phillip occupied himself in a careful study of the art of See also:Velazquez, and the copies which he made fetched large prices after his See also:death, examples having been secured by the royal and the royal Scottish See also:academies: The year before his death he visited See also:Italy and devoted attention to the works of See also:Titian . The results of this study of the old masters are visible in such works as " La Loteria Nacional, " See also:left uncompleted at his death . During this period he resided much in the See also:Highlands, and seemed to be returning to his first love for Scottish subjects, painting several national scenes, and planning others that were never completed . He died in London on the 27th of See also:February 1867 . His works were collected in the See also:International Exhibition of '873, and many of them are engraved by T .

See also:

Oldham See also:Barlow . In addition to the paintings already specified the following are among the more important: " See also:Life among the See also:Gipsies of Seville " (1853), " El Paseo " (1855), " Collection of the See also:Offertory in a Scotch See also:Kirk " (1855), " A Gipsy See also:Water-See also:carrier in Seville " (1855), " The See also:Prayer of Faith shall See also:save the Sick " (1856), " The Dying Contrabandist " (1856), " The See also:Prison Window " (1857), " A Huff " (1859), " See also:Early Career of See also:Murillo " (1865), " A Chat See also:round the Brasero " (1866) .

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